We recently received a comment from a business owner who is so busy on production, he doesn’t have time for paperwork, organizing, and so on. I know how that feels: business is great, but getting up in the morning is no longer an exciting proposition when you have to face the backlog from Hades. Getting administrative duties under control is a vital make/break entrepreneurial skill. But, how do you do it?
The person who commented on the blog post wondered if he should just take a week off to get everything caught up. I wouldn’t suggest closing down the business for a week, but it’s not a bad idea to take a weekend and devote it to getting those things done.
However, you might be able to handle it by taking the least busy hour of the day – or even getting up an hour early or staying an hour late – and focusing on nothing else. And I mean nothing – doing things without interruption makes the world of difference. Once you get started, you can make a realistic assessment of what it will take and schedule from there.
Whichever way you choose to catch up, scheduling your day so it includes time for this and other activities, is a vital entrepreneurial skill. Even if it’s only half an hour, it has to happen every day.
And that half hour is sacrosanct. You absolutely cannot adopt the attitude that ‘it’s only paperwork.’ Not only will you lose business, and sleep, it can get so overwhelming you no longer enjoy your job and might even want to quit the business. Backlogs can make you feel your life is in shambles, directionless. It’s a BIG deal – try catching up on everything and you’ll see for yourself.
When you’re done, reward yourself by exercising another vital entrepreneurial skill – loafing, in whatever way floats your boat. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it more than you would have had you left that backlog unhandled.
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